This Is It

muddy buddies

they started here. on the little "island". only getting their feet muddy. pretending to get stuck in quicksand every now and then.

then they worked their way over to the mud hole, where they thought they couldn't be seen. my camera and i found them and watched as they managed to get their bottom half wet/muddy.

shortly after, they were back to where they started and realized how good the mud felt on their skin.

and when the sun went down, we walked them back to the hotel, stripped off their muddy clothes and tried not to clog the drains as they cleaned off.

Bryce Camping [Day Two]

first thing in the morning. it was beautiful out.

darric started a fire

and kenzie kept watch

the other three got breakfast going

scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage

and fruit and cereal. the daytons were there too.

before we left for our hike, kenzie put out the fire.

we took the navajo trail. part of it was closed off, so we finished with a different trail. that trail went up to sunrise point. 

we didn't see any snakes this time. just squirrels and lizards. (and men in capris - very disturbing)

when we got to the uphill part, it felt like it was never going to end. i was glad for it to be over. the clouds had just started to roll in and we heard the loudest thunder as we were walking to the cars. that did not make madi or tommy very happy.

    

our plans of sandwiches at the campsite were scratched because the rain had started back up. so we got ourselves a table for 9 at the ruby's inn restaurant. lunch was much better than the dinner we had last night. after we ate, max got to open his gift from the daytons.

(super hero pop-up book)

(nintendo dsi, game and case)

my favorite part was next, a walk across the street to get ice-cream cones. then we got in the cars and went around to the moss cave trail. it was much shorter than the other one.

one way led us to the mossy cave

and the other way led us to the waterfall. there was a log that went across the  stream, right before the waterfall. it was begging bill and darric to cross it. 

i guess the stream where the kids were throwing rocks was begging darric to cross it too.

 

we took the kids back to the rock shop and let them each pick something out. max got a geode, madi got a bag of rocks and a peacock rock and mackenzie got some magnets.

we had a short break from the rain. (as soon as we all got our ponchos on) there was some tree climbing and whittling going on. 

as we prepared for dinner, the rain started back up. darric already had our fire going, so we didn't let that stop us from roasting hot dogs. the can opener broke, so we didn't get chili. madi wasn't a fan of the rain/lightening/thunder, so she hung out in the truck until it stopped.

and it didn't stop until some of us were making our second smore's.

(there was a good layer of mud on our shoes at all times)

billy roasted his marshmallow a little too long. i dared him to take a bite. and he did.

we thought it was almost bedtime because it was so cloudy out, but the sun made another appearance and we enjoyed it for another couple of hours (while the boys played in the mud).

max and i walked back to the hotel, while the rest of our family went to the convenience store. we got there way before them, so we enjoyed the view of the lake. there were a bunch of ducks in there, but they quickly disappeared.

after showers, it didn't take long for the kids (and darric) to fall asleep. i stayed up reading my book (the help).

Bryce Camping [Day One]

we were on the road by 9:00. took darric's truck this time and he covered everything with a tarp. 

we stopped in cedar city for lunch at arctic circle. then continued up through the mountain. as we started to enjoy the beautiful scenery, the rain came pouring down. it got real exciting when the windows fogged up and i couldn't figure out how to turn the defrost on. darric fixed it all and we could see once again. the rest of my family had arrived in cedar city and we were texting back and forth about the rain. it stopped for a bit, but as we got closer to the thick grey clouds and red rocks, the rain poured down. and the water (and rocks) ran down certain spots in the mountain. forcing some cars to turn around. we continued on, knowing we had a hotel room, just in case. the rest of my family decided to make a turn in the opposite direction and head to my parent's house. it was drizzling when we arrived and checked in to our campsite. by the time we drove back around there, it was done raining. (for the moment) we set up the tent and unloaded all of our goods from the bed of the truck. the daytons met up with us (our hotel was kitty corner from the campsite - within walking distance)

we were able to eat our chicken fajitas and clean up before the rain started again. darric had the brilliant idea to place everything on the picnic table and cover it up with the tarp. everything stayed dry. except us. but we fixed that by going to the old bryce town shops for some ice-cream. we stayed inside until our ice-creams were finished and the rain had let up a little bit. 

darric was determined to get a fire going. but it didn't last very long. 

we were going to sit in ruby's inn by the pool, but it was packed in there, so we went to the restaurant instead. it had been awhile since we ate dinner, so we all ordered the soup and salad bar. the kids shared some cow chips (fries with cheese and bacon). we decided to sleep in the hotel that night.  

the week or so before camping was kind of a blur. i didn't write anything down, so i don't remember exactly what went on. i do know...

we met grandma becky at costco to get our groceries for camping the thursday before we left (darric had that day off, so he took max to run a few errands) 

we went to the movies with grandma, quincy, beckam, jen, grace, mason and a few extras. grandma and the boys saw mr popper's penguins and the rest of us saw monte carlo. afterwards, we took grandma and the melton kids to get purple penguin snow cones. (yes, max needs his hair cut)

fourth of july 2011

fourth of july bbq at the sedillo's:

kabobs... cindy's beans (i made them)... cheese dip (jen was craving)... macaroni salad... fruit kabobs (that madi made)... we finally ate the red velvet bundt cake from jen's birthday and cookies and pies too... the kids had fun on the blow up slide and trampoline. and for once, the adults were ready for fireworks before the kids... it was the usual... snaps and then showers of colorful lights accompanied by high-pitched squeals... the neighbors lit up the skies until the police rolled onto the scene... we lit a couple sparklers before heading home in the haze of smoke, as other fireworks went off outside of each of our windows. our neighbors were just finishing up with their loud fireworks as we climbed in to bed. 

 

06.27.11  monday... body pump... haven't been for 2 weeks and it was not fun... wal-mart for a few things... went to jen's house today and finished up a fourth of july craft and made some birdseed feeders... we let the kids all make one too... we left madi there and mason came with us for a sleepover...

06.28.11  tuesday... went to the cheap theater to see cars 2 with jen and our kids... i thought it was just ok...

06.29.11  wednesday... darric worked last night, so he came home early today... after we had lunch, i took the kids to the library for new books and we stopped at purple penguin on the way home...  

06.30.11  thursday... grocery shopping at trader joe's... then took max with me to walmart for cookie ingredients (making pb blossoms for the bake sale)... we picked up donuts and came home... egg salad sandwiches for lunch and lots of cookies baked... tried portobello pizzas for dinner (not super yummy like i was hoping)... 

07.01.11  friday... jen's birthday... ran to michaels for a few things and then we went over to jen's house to help get stuff ready for the bake sale... kenzie was on a roll, baking all kinds of cookies... i put the nevada prints that i made in the frames and made the sweet chex mix... dave took jacob, mason and max to see transformers 3. max loved it. i ended up taking madi, grace and quincy home with me... max and kenzie stayed there... we picked up panda for dinner... the girls got along pretty well... quincy was the first one out, while the other two tickled each other's backs on the couch... darric ended up going to run a call.... 

07.02.11  saturday...  got up and got ready and headed to jen's house for the bake sale... it was busy the majority of the day... channel 8 news came... they talked to a few people at the bake sale and then rob and amber came and they interviewed them... they were there for at least a couple hours... we stayed there until about 5... max was getting cranky, so it was time to get out of there... i guess they ended up taking what was left of the baked goods to some concert and ended up raising about $7000 for the whole thing... we watched the news when we got home and had papa johns for dinner... then we forced darric to watch ironman... me, him and max watched the whole thing...

07.03.11  sunday... decided the house needed a good cleaning... which kept me busy until lunch time... cafe rio... darric and max went and picked it up... and then i finally showered while darric went to run another call... that evening it started raining... then pouring and then it looked like someone was throwing buckets of water from the neighbors roof... all of us were loving the lightening and thunder, except madi... she was not happy... max and i braved it and went to get dinner... jack-in-the-box... got soaked in the drive-thru with the window down...